Monday Morning - 6:47 AM
Emily woke before dawn, unable to sleep longer despite her exhaustion. Timothy was still asleep beside her, peaceful and warm. She slipped out of bed quietly, not wanting to wake him, and moved to the windows.
Geneva was still mostly dark, the city just beginning to wake. In three hours, she'd be at the bank. In three and a half hours, she'd be inside the vault.
She pulled out Elena's final letter, reading it again in the pre-dawn light:
Survive. Fight. Win.
"I'm fighting," Emily whispered to her mother's memory. "Today, I get the weapons you left me. Today, I start winning."
Her phone buzzed with a message. Alexander's secure channel—something she hadn't heard from in days.
Her heart jumped. Alexander. Her cousin. Still imprisoned in Norvale under Marcus's surveillance.
She opened the message:
